Irish justice on Friday approved the extradition to the United Kingdom of a man suspected of having organized the movement of drivers involved in the traffic which led to the death of 39 Vietnamese migrants found in a refrigerated truck in England last autumn .
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Dublin criminal court has ordered the surrender of 40-year-old Ronan Hughes to British justice, Judge Paul Burns said. The suspect is detained under a European arrest warrant for 39 counts of manslaughter and assistance for illegal immigration. He is " suspected of having organized and checked the drivers, " said prosecutor Ronan Kennedy in a previous hearing.
On October 23, the bodies of 31 men and eight women, including two 15-year-old teenagers, were discovered aboard a container in the Grays industrial estate, east of London. The container came from the Belgian port of Zeebrugge. Dressed in a hooded sweater, his face covered with a mask, the suspect remained silent during the statement of the decision.
Five accused
His lawyers had opposed the extradition request, citing ambiguities as to the scene of the commission of the acts alleged against him and the jurisdiction of the British courts. The magistrate dismissed them, explaining that the facts " cross borders ", also citing elements attesting that the victims perished after the container had entered British waters. The suspect must be transferred within ten days from Monday.
Meanwhile, the Irish Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal of another suspect, Eamon Harrison, who was challenging his extradition to the UK on Friday. He is accused of having supplied the container in which the victims were found.
In total, five people have already been charged in the British investigation into this so-called mass truck case. The driver of the vehicle, Maurice Robinson, 25, pleaded guilty to manslaughter in London in early April. Thirteen suspects have been indicted (charged) in France, 13 others in Belgium.
The drama has highlighted the dangers of illegal immigration, with unscrupulous traffickers taking advantage of the candidates' vulnerability, the latter often ending up in nail bars or illegal cannabis farms in the UK, reduced to one semi-slavery state.
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